2 years later, an admission about that optimistic $500k Hamilton Amazon bid

Two years ago, Hamilton city councillors heard Steeltown had a good shot at becoming Amazon's second home. But on Wednesday, it was a vastly different story.

Glen Norton, the city's head of economic development, told councillors the city never believed the pitch to the retail giant was going to work. But the city spent half a million on it anyway. Both then and now staff say it was worth it.

"I don't think anybody around the table really thought we'd be 100 per cent successful," Norton said at a city council general issues committee meeting. "The key was to get our information in front of Amazon and create a future impression."

That was an about face from the tone of conversations in 2017, when council debated whether to spend the money.

Chris Murray, who was city manager at the time, told council more than once that Hamilton had a shot at the $5 billion project, which would come with 50,000 jobs.

"I think Canada's in the running for a reason. I really do," Murray said at one point. "Is it a guarantee? There is no guarantee."

But Murray encouraged council to spend $250,000 anyway, with another $250,000 coming from the private sector. Even if Hamilton didn't win, he said, the material could be used to draw other industries. 

From the looks of it, the city has done some of that.

The city hired two consultants who gathered information about workforce, available land and other amenities, and came up with new "Welcome to Unstoppable" branding and video.

Hamilton has presented info from its Amazon bid package to international investors, Norton said. It used it to try for the 2020 Indigenous Games. It also turned it into a large welcome poster at the Hamilton airport, and presentations at local sporting event, as well as email blasts.

Councillors on Wednesday were satisfied with that. In fact, they even dropped an annual requirement for staff to report back on how the city is using the bid package.

"I have no regrets in what we embarked on," said Terry Whitehead, Ward 14 (west Mountain) councillor. "It's not just the experience of buying the ticket — if you don't buy the ticket, you don't win — but it's also about what we learned and what we produced."

"It was a good and useful exercise and I would do it again."

Overall, Hamilton was one of 238 municipalities who bid to host HQ2. Only Toronto made the shortlist.

It hasn't worked out so well between Amazon and the winning city anyway. The company chose New York City, and said last month that it won't build there. 

The company would have gotten $2.8-billion US worth of tax incentives to set up in the city, and New Yorkers protested that.

Amazon says it has no plans to do another HQ2 search.

That doesn't mean Hamilton hasn't benefited from Amazon though. The company hires Hamilton workers at its Milton fulfillment centre, and even helps them get to work.